FLEET 20 NEWSLETTER
March 2001
Catalina 22 - Fleet 20, Portland, OR
From
the Captain
By Dennis Thomas
Writing a monthly little blip for the newsletter is more difficult probably than many of us imagine. My hat is off to Dale Mack, publisher and almost exclusive writer of the Fleet 20 Newsletter for the great job he does.
Now for myself, I am a novice sailor compared to the many years of sailing experience that many of you folks have at the tiller. I don’t come to this position of Captain with a great knowledge base. The only thing that I have to offer you folks as Captain is my enthusiasm for sailing and eagerness to learn everything I can. I am a sailing junkie, I admit it and I hope that there is no cure and I will not seek treatment. I know that there are more important things in life but they are all raised and out of the house. So let the games begin!
My hope, as Captain is to motivate. To the sailors that have many years of experience I would like you to remember what it was like when you first started sailing and how many times you scared yourself, family and friends half to death. I want to motivate you to share the things that you have learned with those starting out new, to help them avoid some of the same mistakes. And to those that are relatively new, I would like to encourage and motivate you to ask questions, seek out the salty dogs in our fleet and pick their brains, ARRR.
I am excited about getting the boat back in the water but I am concerned about the water conditions this year with the lack of snow and rainfall. It may make the Spring races easier because of less current to fight but it may leave us with very little water this coming summer. Nonetheless, I would like to encourage you to be involved with the fleet activities, not just for what you may get out of it but what you may add to other fellow sailors sailing life.
Fleet 20 Spring Meeting, March 18
By Dennis Thomas
March 18th is our next meeting. We will be meeting at Chris & Ebie Mountford’s home, 17415 NE 159th St., Brush Prairie, WA. We will have a potluck, late afternoon, about 3:00 p.m. I will be e-mailing or calling you with the details within the next week. If you know at this time that you plan on attending please e-mail me and let me know, d_Thomas@juno.com.
Some of the things that we would like to talk about are:
- Plans for the racing season
- San Juan Islands cruise
Other possible sailing events we might discuss include:
- Trailering to Detroit Lake
- Cruise in Olympia, WA.
- Trailering to Fern Ridge Lake near Eugene
- Astoria-Warrenton Seafood Festival (April 28)
- Catalina Days in Seattle (June 30)
- Any other ideas
Renew
Your Membership in Fleet 20
By Dale Mack
Please consider renewing your Fleet 20 Membership if you haven't done so already.
The application form is available online, so please fill it out and send it in.
Man Overboard Maneuvering and Retrieval
By Dale Mack
March 28 (Wed), 6 pm at Rose City Yacht Club. The Columbia River All Catalina Association has invited anyone with a Catalina to attend a Potluck Dinner and meeting.
Rose City Yacht Club
3737 NE Marine Drive
Portland, Oregon 97211
(503) 282-2049
The potluck dinner and meeting will be shared with the Hunter Sailing Association of Oregon. Bring your own beverage, dishes, silverware, and a dish to share based on your last names.
- A-H, Salad, Appetizer
- I-P, Main Dish
- Q-Z, Dessert
The program for the night is Man Overboard! Island Sailing Club’s, Herbert Florer, will present Man Overboard Maneuvering and Retrieval Techniques. This is probably the most critical boating skill to have and also probably one that most of us are not as proficient as we need to be. Over 500 boaters die every year from drowning or hypothermia, most don’t have life jackets on.
Get there as close to 6 p.m. as you can because RCYC does not like to leave the security gate open any longer than necessary.
| Cruising |
Planning for the San Juan Islands Cruise
By Dale Mack
It looks like we'll be settling on an itinerary for the San Juan Islands Cruise at the March 18th meeting. Several folks have expressed interest in spending two weeks in the islands, so I suspect we'll end up with two or three concurrent and possibly overlapping itineraries. I've had some inquiries from families outside of the Pacific Northwest about joining us on the cruise if the scheduled dates for the cruise workout for them.
For those planning to attend the March 18th meeting, please come with your books, charts, and ideas about what you'd like to experience on the cruise. The meeting will be a great opportunity to hear about other's past San Juan adventures, and learn about new destinations. Don't forget to bring your photo albums.
Past cruises have involved a lot of motoring because of the distances being traveled. The 1999 cruise was a different harbor nearly every night, and the 2000 cruise slowed that down a bit with a harbor or anchorage every other night. While pace in 2000 was better, I know several of us are thinking about trying for even a slower pace that increases the opportunity to sail. To achieve that slower pace, Laura and I are thinking about day-sailing out of a few selected destinations in the San Juan Islands. Our plan would be to stay a couple of nights at a harbor or anchorage before moving on.
Anchorage versus being at a dock for the night. While the anchorage may be our image of San Juan Islands serenity, those of us cruising with younger crewmembers find being at a dock nightly critical for crew morale. Fortunately it's not that difficult to craft an itinerary that supports both.
| Racing |
Who is Racing in 2001?
By Dale Mack
Are you planning to race your boat in 2001? The first SYSCO Spring Series race is Thursday, April 19th.
I believe the following boats are intending to race (click on the thumbnail to see a larger view):
- Little Hector, Chris Mountford
- WindChaser, Dennis Thomas
- Lematike, Mike McGrath
- Harmony, Dale Mack
Learning How to Run a Race
By Dale Mack
March 28/29. The Oregon Corinthian Sailing Association (OCSA) will be hosting its Race Management Clinic on March 28/29. This informative two evening seminar is not just for race committees. The seminar will focus on the planning and coordination involved in putting on a sailboat race. I'll email out the time and location for the clinic once I get it.
I've attended this clinic the last two years and have found it has helped me immensely in increasing my comfort level racing on the Columbia River. I served as the Principal Race Officer for the first time last year based on what I learned in the clinic. You can read about that race in the July 2000 issue of the newsletter.
Racing
on the Columbia River
By Dale Mack
April 5/6. The Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO) will be hosting its SYSCO Race Clinic. A Thursday evening chalkboard session will include topics on basic rules, starting procedures, protests, and local racing conditions. Experienced skippers will be available to share racing knowledge. On Friday evening, an on the water session will feature several practice starts together with a round-the-buoy practice race to the finish. Experienced skippers will be available for onboard assistance.
I'll email out the time and location for the clinic once I get it. I haven't attended this clinic yet, but it sounds very interesting.
| Technical Tips |
Water
Pump Impeller
Replacement
By Dale Mack
My Honda 7.5 hp outboard motor has a water check tube at the rear of the engine housing, that has a steady stream of water coming out of it when the water pump is supplying cooling water to the engine. Stories about no water or steam coming out of the water check tube are an annual discussion on the Catalina 22 email discussion group I participate in. The typical cause of the problem is impeller failure after years of use. Over time the rubber paddles of the impeller start to stiffen and eventually crack near the hub and break off.
After listening to fellow Fleet 20 member Raul Cardoza discuss finding two paddles drifting about inside his pump's housing last year, I decided I would replace my impeller before the start of the 2001 season. What followings are some highlights of my experience.
I needed the following parts to perform this maintenance:
- Honda Shop Manual for BF75 (the diagrams and photos were very helpful)
- Two water pump gaskets (part no. 19232-881-306)
- One impeller (part no. 19210-881-003)
- One seal ring (not shown in photo, it seals where the water tube enters the pump)
- One small stainless steel cotter pin to secure the shift rod to the shift handle
- Grease to lubricate the square end of the vertical drive shaft where is slips over pinion shaft of the water pump.
- Thread sealer for the reassembly
Here are the steps I went through to complete this job:
- Removed the bolt holding the rectifier in place because the rectifier blocked me from being able to remove the clevis pin from the shift handle/shift rod assembly.
- Removed the cotter pin and clevis pen from the shift handle/shift rod assembly.
- Removed the five (5) bolts holding the gear case (part with propeller) to the extension case. I was now able to pull the gear case away from the extension case about eight inches.
- Removed the six (6) bolts holding the water pump in place.
- Cleaned all the surfaces that make contact with the gaskets.
- Replaced the impeller. I noticed a very small crack in one of the paddles.
- Reassembled the pump by placing a gasket, cover, gasket, and then pump housing on the gear case.
- Applied thread seal to bolts and torqued them down to specs.
- Applied grease to the pinion shaft.
- Placed the seal ring on the water output of the pump.
- Pushed the gear case back toward the extension case.
- Aligned the drive shaft to the pinion shaft, and the water tube to the seal ring. Carefully pushed everything together.
- Attached the gear case to the extension case by applying thread seal to bolts and torquing them to specs.
- Laid the engine on its side on the floor. I tried this next step with the engine upright, but I kept dropping the clevis pin.
- Aligned the top of the shift rod inside the shift arm, and reinserted the clevis pin and the cotter pin.
- Reinstalled the rectifier.
The hardest part of this job was the shift rod clevis pin. Everything else went very quickly. Even the clevis pin was easy once I decided to lay the engine on its side.
| Upcoming Events |
March 18. Spring meeting to plan Spring events and the San Juan Islands itinerary
March 28. Man Overboard and Retrieval (Rose City Yacht Club)
March 28-29. OCSA Race Management Clinic
April 5-6. SYSCO Race Clinic
The Fleet 20 newsletter is published online once a month. Articles are the opinions of the authors and don't necessarily represent the consensus of Fleet 20.